Archive for the ‘statue’ Category

Here’s a blue bird. Well, it’s not a real blue bird. It’s more of a statue. Yeah, that’s it – a statue. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in our living room, and part of my famous Las Vegas, Bird, Art, and Statue series.

Very long time, no post. Lots has happened, but I’ve been documenting life more on my Facebook page. Still, it behooves me to drop in here occasionally. I’m sure I have no more Loyal Readers, but that’s okay. It’s more for me, anyway.

Greetings from warm, sunny Tucson, Arizona! We came here to help Corey celebrate his 22nd birthday, which is today. Happy birthday, Corey! Marisa, his Special Friend lives here, and Joanne wanted to give him a visit as a birthday gift. They both seem to be enjoying the visit.

Unfortunately, Joanne is no longer here. She started her new job at Caesars Entertainment a couple weeks ago and couldn’t be away from home. She drove here with Corey and me on Saturday and flew back home last night. Short visit for her. I’m staying here today to take Corey and Marisa out to Birthday Dinner and then driving home alone tomorrow. Corey’s staying until early next week.

Not much else to talk about right now. One of the reasons I never seem to take the time to write here is that it seems like such a daunting task to write down everything that’s happening. So I won’t. See my Facebook page for more details.

Here’s Shannon standing in front of Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium on September 9, 2012. We were on a leaf-peeping cruise out of Baltimore and had a wonderful time seeing new places and just being together. Part of my famous Cruise, Shannon, and Statue series.

That was our last cruise together. A little more than four months after this photo was taken, we received the news that Shannon had leukemia. It happened all of a sudden. Many people who lose loved ones to cancer can look back and see when it started. Not so for us. She was fine when this picture was taken, she was fine when she single-handedly moved our things from the house in Manteca to Las Vegas, she was fine when we left Pennsylvania, she was fine when we drove from Manteca to Las Vegas, and she was fine when we finally moved into the house. Those were very busy months and she was fine. A week or two after we got here, she started feeling sick and antibiotics didn’t help. Finally, on about February 20, 2013, we went to the emergency room to see why she was feeling so bad. She walked in. And she started dying.

Today, it’s been two years since her death. So much has happened that she has missed. Oh how we miss her.

Katy posted the above picture on Facebook this morning with this comment: “I miss you every day, Mom.”

Paul posted this picture and said: “Here’s one of my favorite pics of Mom. I think of her constantly and miss her desperately. I’m so happy to have such a great support system of family and friends to help me during times like this. The last few years are kind of a hazy blur, but it sure doesn’t feel like she’s been gone for two years. I love you!”

I think I’ve written thousands of words about her life and death. I could come up with several thousand more, but I’ll just say this today: For more than 35 years, she was the light of my life. When she was gone, the only wish of my heart was to go with her. Instead, I’ve spent time over the past two years reflecting on the things she taught me and the things she gave me. Now my only wish is to love and care for the people around me the way she did, and to be happy the way she was happy.

Here’s a statue of a face. I have no idea who it is or what it’s there for. All I know is that it’s Great Art. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone 4s-cam, taken in Santa Clara, California quite some time ago, and part of my famous Statue series.

Not a lot new today. Joanne and I went to the Porsche Club’s after-holiday formal dinner last night and had a very nice time. The folks in the club are such nice people. They’ve been very welcoming and everybody seems like they’re glad we’re there.

We got everything from Christmas put away on Saturday. It was a bit of a long day, but it’s done and the house is back to normal. I love decorating for Christmas and I love getting the decorations put back away. Kind of odd, that.

We’ve decided to take a cruise in July. We’re going to Alaska! The ship sails from Seattle, so we need to fly up there either the morning of the cruise or the day before. Joanne will only have to take four days off of work for the seven-day cruise, which is pretty good. It goes Sunday to Sunday, and she has a holiday during the week we’re going.

We haven’t reserved flights yet. What’s currently available is pretty expensive at this point, so we’re waiting. I’m not sure if we should plan to fly up there on Saturday. That eliminates the worry of missing the ship if our flight is significantly delayed, but involves extra expense. It may be worth the extra time and money, though. What do you think, Loyal Readers?

Sadly, Mark will have to stay home. Sorry, Mark. Also, Baymax will have to stay home. Not sorry, Baymax.

Here are Joanne and a new friend at Treasure Island the other night. He’s out in front of one of the restaurants there – Gilley’s, to be specific. The whole casino is sea- and island-themed. And then there’s Gilley’s. Why a country/western-themed restaurant in a nautical/pirate themed casino, I don’t know. We didn’t go inside the restaurant, so Joanne didn’t have an opportunity to ride the mechanical bull She doesn’t seem to have missed it. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam and part of my famous Joanne, Las Vegas, and Statue series.

I’m not sure I would want to play that slot machine. It’s just a bit too lifelike for me, I think.

Had a busy day. I got some work done! There’s lots more to get to,mouth I made a bit of progress on preparing for the February conference. It’s just a bit more than a month away!

Mark’s feeling sick today. He woke up very sick to his stomach and continues to have a very hard time of it. He’s finally having a few okay moments this evening. I’m hopeful!

Mark wasn’t sure he could handle the smell of cooking food this evening, so I had cereal for dinner. I complemented my Rice Krispies with a delicious banana. I’m thinking of adding a cup of tea as a nightcap.

Here’s a crucifix I saw in the Catholic cathedral in New Orleans’s French Quarter. The odd thing is that it didn’t look nearly this good in real life. The light was kind of low in the little room where I found it. My trusty iPhone beautified it for me. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken inside the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, and part of my famous Statue and Vacation series.

I hope it wasn’t inappropriate to photograph inside that beautiful building. I asked Joanne if she thought it was a problem and she said no. I didn’t use my flash and I tried to stay unobtrusive and respectful. Nobody seemed concerned.

Missed two days of posting last week. So my new habit isn’t off to a particularly rousing start, but I’m being patient with myself and continuing to strive for success. The thing is that I really want to do it, but I never get to it until bedtime. I need to post in the morning. Maybe I’ll try that for a while.

We had a pleasant weekend. Joanne and I went to the Kahunaville Island Heat show at Treasure Island on Friday night. It was fun! It was a quasi-luau. The venue was tiny – we sat right by the stage – and there were just a few performers. They had an Elvis-like singer who wasn’t an impersonator. He just had Elvis’s haircut and sang vaguely like Elvis. But he was good. They had two male dancers and five or six female dancers. Their dancing wasn’t exactly Polynesian, but it was kind of close. They had a couple of drummers in the background and piped-in music. The dinner was quite good and we had a very nice time. Not necessarily an authentic time, but a nice time. I’m glad we went.

Friday afternoon, I flew my new quadrotor for the first time. I like it! I haven’t broken it yet, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time. I’m glad I had plenty of time to learn how to fly on my much-less-expensive first quad; I think that will greatly lessen the risk to the new one. I took videos and still photos with my fancy little camera and enjoyed watching them. When I get a little more skilled, maybe I can follow children and stray dogs with my camera.

We spent most of the day on Saturday taking down and putting away Joanne’s outdoor Christmas decorations. There were a lot of them, and he have them very nicely organized and stored for next year. We also got her little indoor Christmas village put away. I think her kids may be working on getting the rest of the indoor decorations taken care of.

Saturday evening, we took Mark out to Boulder City Brewing Company for a hamburger, a refreshing beverage, and live bluegrass music. It was fun! One small criticism: I think bluegrass music is best played without amplification when you’re in a small room, and this band was amplified. So it was louder and less personal than it could have been, but the band was very good and we enjoyed it.

Yesterday, we just spent the day together and enjoyed each other’s company. I cooked a nice breakfast at my house. We were planning to go to a place called Du-Par’s in the Golden Gate casino, but we got a bit of a late start, so we stayed at my house instead. We’ll try Du-Par’s another time.

John and I are finishing up our prep work for the February expo where we’ll show PhotoDoc. I spent a few minutes Sunday evening with Ken, talking about how to market it (Mark and I ate Sunday dinner at their house, by the way; it was excellent, as always). I’m working on putting a few ideas down on paper and will share them with Ken.

I’m really nervous about this show. John is encouraging me not to do anything but have the software on our computers in our booth, but I’m positive I need more. I want a banner in the front of the booth, probably some pictures in the back of the booth, some brochures to give out, an invitation to our June training seminar, and something else to give away. Ken keeps suggesting things that will make people want to stop by. We have some ideas, but I’m just not sure yet what will work. I desperately wish I had been able to attend the expo before the first time I have a booth there. I wish I had done a booth before at all!

We’ll figure it out. If we have nothing but our computers and monitors and we don’t sell anything there, it will be an expensive lesson, but it will be a lesson nevertheless. I hate learning the hard way, but that seems to happen a lot.